1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to super-conducting ceramic (oxide), and more particularly, to a method of fabricating a superconducting ceramic pipe.
2. Description of the Related Art
A ceramic pipe having no superconducting property has been fabricated by, for example, mixing a ceramic composition powder, a binder and water, to form a slurry, casting the slurry into a pipe-shaped cavity of a mold made of gypsum or the like, to form a green pipe, and then sintering the green pipe. This fabrication method can be applied for conventional ceramic pipes or tubes, but cannot be applied for superconducting ceramic pipes, since the water and binder (usually an organic compound) damage the superconducting properties, or prevent the super-conducting properties from appearing. Even though the water and binder are removed during the sintering step, a reducing effect due to the organic compound used at the sintering step prevents the superconducting properties from appearing.
It is possible to fabricate a superconducting ceramic pipe by mixing raw materials, calcinating the mixed material, grinding the calcinated material into a powder, pressing the powder filled in a pipe-shaped cavity of a metal die into the form of a green pipe, and sintering the green pipe under an oxygen-containing atmosphere. In this case, however, it is difficult to obtain a ceramic pipe having a small diameter and a long length, since the pressing step involves problems with the metal die, pressing machine, and a uniform compacting, etc.